Seeking the Recently Buried Past
The party struck out from the city of Beliard, with all the fanfare one would expect from such a diverse group gathering in such a sleepy little place. The group moved south, following a clue from Ront that he had noticed the masked men who attacked him in Beliard around a point on the path south of the village. The party came across little the first day and night except a group of sheep herders. The following morning, Cimers familiar led the party to a battlefield a few miles to the south. The field itself was churned up badly, but there appeared to be a trail leading west. Following the trail, the party came upon an ankheg that was furiously working on something. After some brief indecision, the party dispatched the creature quickly, discovering a small burial chamber. A well dressed Dwarf, an armored Dwarf, a masked man, and an Inventor had been buried together in a most unceremonious way. The ankheg appeared to have been attempting to unbury the corpses for a feast. After an investigation, no one could determine any figures leaving the location. This led the party to believe that either the Inventors had been involved and picked up their burial team with one of their flying craft, or it was the work of the masked men who seem to walk through walls. Cimers familiar was then able to identify several boats across the Dessarian River, which he suspected would likely have people nearby. With Tarbenders recommendation of trying the Riverguard Mercenaries as the only option to work with at the moment, Cimer sent his familiar with a letter to ask for assistance. Shortly afterward, a small team of mercenaries returned to the boats, and made the trek across the river to pick up the party. During this time, the party waited and talked for the most part, though Cimer remained quietly communing with his master. Holgar Worthington and Henry Henderson of the Riverguard Mercenaries were the responders to the missive and, upon learning that the party would be seeking to employ services from the mercenaries, were more than happy to ferry the party across the river. Once there, Henry was left as an escort to guide the party up the river to Riverguard Keep itself. During the trek, it was discovered that Henry's family had been killed by the Icewalker Tribe of Orcs, the family tribe Ront comes from. As such, the big guy decided to keep his armor and helmet on while dealing with the mercenaries. Upon reaching the keep itself, the party was escorted to meet Jollivar Grimjaw, the Lord Commander of the Riverguard Mercenaries. Cimer spoke for the party, requesting aid in the form of information. The party wanted details on the Inventors and Masked Men, hoping to learn something about where they could be found and any details about them that might be important to the investigation at hand. Jolivar was keen to help, and requested that the party await the information while enjoying the Keep's hospitality. At the same time, Lucky Smoke sought to use the moment to her advantage, and asked Jollivar if she could hire his mercenaries to spread word of a "particularly dangerous cat" in the area. This led Jollivar to arranging a sparring match to allow Smoke to prove her fierceness, so that his soldiers wouldn't be lying. (Insert information that the party received from Jollivar, because I was silly and forgot to write it down. Will retrieve from DM at a later date) During the resulting match, Smoke engaged in a few "sport" matches that tested her patience, before she faced off against her true opponent the Reaver named Reesh. She then used a dose of Drow Poison to render her foe unconscious in a single volley of a dart. Reesh then transformed into some horrific fish-like monster, before a being known only as Gar arrived. With a single order, Reesh walked away from the arena. Cimer immediately identified Gar as being the servant of a mighty Hexblade that he wields, though Cimer does not know its name. After returning to their private bunks, Cimer finally had a chance to speak with his companions about the portents gained from his master, alerting them to the presence of many more like Gar in the area. The party also made plans to arrest the pirate captain commanding the Riverguard mercenaries ship, a Genasi named Shoalahar.